Mario Ageno and the status of biophysics

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• dc.contributor.author Cozzoli, Daniele
• dc.date.accessioned 2024-09-26T11:26:25Z
• dc.date.available 2024-09-26T11:26:25Z
• dc.date.issued 2024
• dc.description.abstract This essay focuses on Mario Ageno (1915–1992), initially director of the physics laboratory of the Italian National Institute of Health and later professor of biophysics at Sapienza University of Rome. A physicist by training, Ageno became interested in explaining the special characteristics of living organisms origin of life by means of quantum mechanics after reading a book by Schrödinger, who argued that quantum mechanics was consistent with life but that new physical principles must be found. Ageno turned Schrödinger’s view into a long-term research project. He aimed to translate Schrödinger’s ideas into an experimental programme by building a physical model for at least a very simple living organism. The model should explain the transition from the non-living to the living. His research, however, did not lead to the expected results, and in the 1980s and the 1990s he focused on its epistemological aspect, thinking over the tension between the lawlike structure of physics and the historical nature of biology. His reflections led him to focus on the nature of the theory of evolution and its broader scientific meaning.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Cozzoli D. Mario Ageno and the status of biophysics. Hist Philos Life Sci. 2024;46:19. DOI: 10.1007/s40656-024-00617-7
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40656-024-00617-7
• dc.identifier.issn 0391-9714
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/61241
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Springer
• dc.relation.ispartof History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. 2024;46:19.
• dc.rights This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/[insert DOI]
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.keyword Biophysics
• dc.subject.keyword Molecular biology
• dc.subject.keyword Quantum mechanics
• dc.subject.keyword Bacteriophage
• dc.subject.keyword Virus
• dc.title Mario Ageno and the status of biophysics
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion